Sunday, October 28, 2007

Monsters of Blood and Honour - Ken Catran


After hearing Ken Catran in our own library last term, I was pretty keen to read his latest book. It's not a book I'd recommend to junior readers as it has some harrowing accounts of World War 2. The novel is in fact three short novels in one collection. The first tale deals with British fighter pilots who lead the bombing raids that wiped out German cities at the end of WW2. The second deals with the memories of a nurse who was held in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Singapore. The last tale is the story of a Nazi prison guard who managed to escape to NZ but who lives with the ghosts of his past.
Each story has a teenage character who acts as the starting point for the narrative.

Ken spoke to us about how he researches his work and the details in these stories are based on the factual accounts of survivors- the realism is startling at times.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

National Library Week - October 15th

This week is National Library Week - we will be running a competition based on this blog. Read one of the books that I have reviewed either on this blog or the school newsletter, post your thoughts about the book here and be in to win a great prize.


PRIZEWINNER - Samuel Hansard - see Mrs Cleary for your prize!!

For more info check out this link - http://www.libraryweek.org.nz/index.php

Friday, October 5, 2007

Duet - David Hill


As an ex-teacher David Hill knows how to create believable teenage characters, Kallum and Paige, the main characters of Duet are certainly believable as a pair of teens who have a strong attraction to each other. Music is the link that brings them and it forms a strong rhythm in the novel. Hill has always tackled real issues sensitively and teenage pregnancy is certainly a real issue.

A book for more senior readers.
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